President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged Ghanaians to bear in mind that Agriculture is a sector that can generate wealth for the nation.
He said there has been a time in Ghanaian history when farming was lucrative, and created wealth, urban structures, and a good life for the people.
Speaking at the Presidential Conference on Youth in Agriculture yesterday, October 18, the President made it known that there has been a statement that by 2050, one in four young people on the planet will be an African which means the Ghanaian population is going to double from 1.3 billion to 2.5 billion population by 2050.
He said as a result of this there will be a need for such a population to be fed and employed implying that a huge market is about to be developed, therefore it is important for the youth to make decisions considering the future as the future is about young people.
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He said “it is extremely important that you, when you’re making your decisions about your future, have an idea of what that future is going to look like, because that is the way in which you can maximize the decisions that you have to make”.
Speaking on the same platform, the Minister of Agriculture, Dr Bryan Acheampong, revealed that the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) in collaboration with the Government is all set to provide lands and farming equipment to youths who are willing to go into farming.
According to Dr Acheampong, the President has met with the Leaders of the National House of Chiefs to ensure that lands will be allocated to interested youths therefore interested people will have to apply for the YEA to train them and give the necessary things required to start farming and continue to support them with the needed farming equipments including fertilizers, tractors among others.
“Through the Ministry of Agriculture, we are creating these economic enclaves, you’ll be given a piece of land up to ten acres. You will be trained after the training phase, you’ll be given your own ten acres. You’ll be giving mechanization services through services like Trotro tractor. Your farm will be mechanized. You’ll be given planting services where whatever crop that you desire, we have equipment that will help you to do the planting”, he indicated.
Mr. Acheamong further indicated that extension officers will help the farmers with agronomic services on how to and when to apply fertilizer to their farms.
He said “all these things are going to be given to you literally for free, but to be paid when you have harvested your crops”.
BY LINDA AFFUL
